Will Revocation and Revival Requirements in Minnesota

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Governing law and scope

Minnesota's central revocation and revival provisions are § 524.2-507 and Minn. Stat. §§ 524.2-508 to -509, with harmless error in § 524.2-503 and dissolution effects in § 524.2-804. The definitions in Minn. Stat. § 524.1-201(17), (43), (62), and (64) bring electronic wills, codicils, and instruments that merely revoke or revise another will within these rules.

Later will, codicil, or writing

A subsequent will revokes the earlier will or part expressly or by inconsistency. If it completely disposes of the estate, replacement is presumed. If it does not make a complete disposition, supplementation is presumed and the earlier will is revoked only to the extent of inconsistency. Clear and convincing evidence is needed to rebut either presumption.

Section 524.2-503 can also treat a document or added writing that missed the execution requirements as a partial or complete revocation if clear and convincing evidence proves that intent. The curative rule applies only to documents and writings executed on or after March 13, 2020.

Physical or electronic revoking act

Section 524.2-507 lists burning, tearing, canceling, obliterating, and destroying the will or part. The testator must act with the intent and purpose of revocation. A burn, tear, or cancellation can qualify even when it does not touch any words.

Because “will” includes an electronic will, the same current section governs both forms. It does not separately state a deletion-by-custodian route or a special electronic-record evidence standard.

Act by another person

Another individual may perform the act at the testator's direction in the testator's conscious presence. Minnesota defines that presence for these sections to include either physical proximity allowing the people to see and hear each other or simultaneous qualifying electronic communication by sight and sound.

Partial revocation

Partial revocation is available through both statutory routes. A later will can revoke only part of the earlier will, and a revocatory act can likewise target a part rather than the whole.

Intent, proof, and presumptions

Physical revocation requires intent and purpose. The complete-disposition and incomplete-disposition presumptions sort replacement from supplementation and require clear and convincing evidence to rebut. Harmless-error treatment of a defective revocation or revival writing also requires clear and convincing proof of the decedent's intent.

The cited sections state no separate missing-original revocation presumption. Whether a particular missing, damaged, or electronically maintained instrument was revoked remains distinct from the listed acts and proof rules.

Divorce, annulment, and other family events

Dissolution or annulment revokes revocable gifts and beneficiary designations for the former spouse and members of the former spouse's family who are not also members of the individual's family. It also revokes powers of appointment for the former spouse and fiduciary nominations for the spouse and those nonshared family members.

The rule yields to the listed governing-instrument, court-order, marital- property-contract, and retirement-plan terms. Remarriage to the former spouse or nullification of the dissolution or annulment revives provisions revoked solely by § 524.2-804. Other circumstance changes generally do not revoke a will or part.

Revival after a later will or revoking act

If a later will wholly revoked the earlier will and is then revoked by an act, the earlier will stays revoked unless circumstances or contemporary or later declarations show revival intent.

If the later will revoked only part, revoking it by act presumptively restores the prior part unless circumstances or declarations show contrary intent. If a still later will revokes the intervening one, the earlier will or part revives only as the newest will's terms show the testator intended.

Reexecution, republication, and codicil effect

A codicil and an instrument that merely revokes or revises another will are included in “will.” Minnesota does not impose a universal reexecution-only formula for restoration. Section 524.2-509 supplies the main revival tests, while § 524.2-503 can validate a defective revival writing on clear and convincing proof for documents within its effective-date rule.

What trips people up

“Conscious presence” is broader than physical presence in Minnesota's current code. For revocation provisions, it can include real-time audiovisual communication that meets the statutory sight-and-sound definition. That does not eliminate the separate requirements of the testator's direction and revocatory intent.

Revoking the later will also has different defaults based on scope. The prior will stays revoked when the later instrument wholly displaced it unless revival intent appears, while a prior part generally returns when the later will only partly displaced it unless contrary intent appears.

Common questions

Must a cancellation touch the words of a Minnesota will?

Not necessarily. Section 524.2-507 says burning, tearing, or canceling may be a revocatory act even when it does not touch any words, provided the required intent and purpose exist.

Can another person revoke the will while appearing remotely?

Potentially. Minnesota's definition of conscious presence includes qualifying simultaneous audiovisual communication, but the other person still must act at the testator's direction and the statutory act-and-intent requirements must be met.

Does destroying the newer will automatically restore the older one?

No. The result depends on whether the newer will revoked all or only part and on the circumstances, declarations, or newest-will terms showing intent.

Statutes and sources

• Minn. Stat. § 524.1-201 — electronic-will, presence, will, and writing definitions. Official text (accessed 2026-08-01).
• Minn. Stat. § 524.2-503 — clear-and-convincing harmless error for revocation and revival writings. Official text (accessed 2026-08-01).
• Minn. Stat. §§ 524.2-507 to -509 — later-will and act revocation, presumptions, circumstance changes, and revival. Official text (accessed 2026-08-01).
• Minn. Stat. § 524.2-804 — dissolution/annulment effects, exceptions, remarriage, and other circumstance changes. Official text (accessed 2026-08-01).